Andy Robertson is, after 30 years of pain for Liverpool, prepared to wait on a Premier League title party as the Reds ready themselves to go in search of the two wins they require to get their hands on the crown.
Three long decades of frustration and near misses for those at Anfield are set to come to an end in 2020.
Having opened up a 25-point lead at the top of the table, Jurgen Klopp’s side are just two wins away from confirming their coronation as the kings of English football.
In the middle of March, the expectation was that they would cross that line with the minimum of fuss.
A coronavirus-enforced break has, however, left Liverpool sweating on when, or if, they will ever get their hands on that much-coveted piece of silverware.
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Project Restart is now being stepped up, as competitive football prepares to return to the calendar, and Robertson is looking forward to tying up loose ends – even if that task must be completed behind closed doors.
The Scotland international full-back told Liverpool’s official website: “It’s been 30 long years for this club and the fans probably couldn’t have imagined we’d have to wait nine weeks when we were so close to going into games where we hopefully could have won to seal the Premier League title.
“But we’ll get back to it, we’ll get going again, we’ll get our rhythm again and hopefully we can win the games we need to win and that’s what our aim is now.
“The light at the end of the tunnel was just getting back into training, to be honest. At times, there were some days you didn’t think that would have been possible, but now we’re back here, we can look forward and look to the next step. Then, like I said, hopefully with the games we’ve got ahead of us, we can get back to it.
“Would we like to play in front of 55,000 people at Anfield? Of course we would. Winning games or whatever without the fans won’t feel the same, but it’s something we know we need to go through and it’s something we know that in their houses and stuff they will be supporting us like mad and we’ll feel that support.
“Hopefully we can celebrate a title if we get the job done – and there will be time to celebrate it when the time is right. But for now we need to keep focused, we know whatever games are coming up and whenever they start, we need to get them won and get that trophy for this club.”
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Liverpool are stepping up their preparations after returning to training, with Robertson admitting that there are a few questionable haircuts on show during a period of lockdown and no trips to the barbers.
He added: “Alisson’s just keeps growing and growing, I don’t know what state that is going to be in when we get back playing!
“Bobby’s [Firmino] is interesting, usually he’s quite sharp but he’s kind of let it go a wee bit rogue, Joe Gomez’s is really bushy on top. [Adam] Lallana just took the hit, didn’t he? He just shaved it all off, so I think we’ve gotten used to Adz having no hair now.
“That’s what happens, isn’t it? You have to adapt to these situations – and unfortunately sometimes you have to put trust in people who don’t have a clue what they’re doing! That’s what we’ve all done – some of us don’t trust their household members [with it] as much as some of us have. But hopefully Bobby can get back to his fresh haircut soon.”